Page 95 of The Bratva Enforcer and His Virgin Bride

Sitting there listening to them, the warm, fuzzy feeling from this morning completely evaporates. This woman’s presence puts a massive spotlight on a part of Lukyan’s life that I just don’t understand. It’s a harsh, sudden reminder of the dangerous world he belongs to and just how much distance still exists between us.

I force myself to concentrate on Lukyan’s words. Maybe I can try to understand him the way he organized dinner to understand me.

“The cargo from the docks needs to move by midnight,” Lukyan says, his voice dropping into a low, cold cadence thatsends a sudden chill down my spine. “If the authorities or the Volkov family get wind of the transit, use whatever force is necessary to secure the perimeter. I want no loose ends left behind this time.”

Anka doesn’t even blink at the mention of violence. She simply nods, her gaze fixed entirely on Lukyan with an intense, familiar focus that makes my stomach turn.

She watches the sharp lines of his face, absorbing his orders like a loyal soldier, but there is something deeply personal in the way her eyes linger on his mouth before she finally shifts her weight.

Watching from my spot on the couch, I feel a heavy knot form in my throat. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable how Anka is looking at my husband. She looks at him like she owns a piece of him, like she understands the monster in him far better than the man who held me so gently last night.

“That’s all,” Lukyan says, cutting the air with finality.

Anka nods once more, acknowledging the end of the business. But instead of turning toward the exit, she pauses. Her sharp eyes slide across the room, locking directly onto me. She smooths down her jacket and walks over, stopping just a few feet from the couch.

“So,” Anka says, her lips curving into a polished, pleasant smile. “How has marriage to a Rusnak been so far?”

The question sounds friendly enough, but I can’t seem to return the energy. I force myself to sit up straighter, keeping my expression polite but completely distant, utterly unable to engage naturally with her.

“It’s been an adjustment,” I answer shortly, my voice tighter than I want it to be.

Anka tilts her head, her perceptive eyes tracking the way my fingers grip the fabric of my dress, noting the rigid tension in my shoulders that I just cannot fully control. She clearly noticesthe shift in the room, reading my discomfort like an open book, but she chooses not to comment on it directly.

She asks a few more casual questions about how I’m liking the estate, to which I give brief, one-word answers, before she finally takes the hint.

“Well, I should let you two get back to your day,” Anka says, offering a final, unreadable look. “Goodbye, Sofia.”

“Goodbye,” I murmur.

Lukyan steps out from behind his desk, walking her across the study to the double doors. He opens them, exchanges a final, silent nod with her, and shuts the door firmly after her, leaving the two of us completely alone in the quiet room.

The click of the door latch feels incredibly loud in the sudden silence of the study.

Lukyan stands by the doorway for a beat before turning around. His dark eyes instantly fix on me, scanning my face, my rigid posture, and the way my hands are still clenched tightly in my lap. He recognizes immediately that something is wrong.

He walks back over to the couch, his heavy footsteps quiet against the rug, and stops right in front of me. “Sofia,” he says, his voice dropping the cold, businesslike edge he used with Anka. “What’s wrong?”

I hesitate, looking down at my hands. I wrap my fingers together, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. I don’t want to admit it. I don’t want to give him that kind of power over me, especially not after watching him order a hit or a smuggling run like it was nothing. But the weight of the morning, the empty bed, and the way that woman looked at him is too much to keep inside.

“I didn’t like the way she looked at you,” I admit softly, the truth slipping out before I can stop it. I force myself to meet his gaze, my heart hammering against my ribs. “I felt… jealous. I hated it.”

The admission completely unsettles me. Saying it out loud makes it real, confirming that he’s getting under my skin in ways he shouldn’t.

I expect him to be cold, or maybe to tell me to mind my own business, but Lukyan’s reaction isn’t dismissive at all. Instead, a quiet, genuine amusement softens his sharp features. A low, barely audible chuckle escapes him, and his lips curve into a small smile. He finds my honesty completely unexpected—and, in a way, incredibly reassuring.

The heavy tension that Anka left behind completely evaporates, shifting into something much softer.

Lukyan closes the remaining distance between us. He sinks down onto the cushion right beside me, his warmth immediately enveloping me. He doesn’t offer a long, defensive explanation about who she is or what their past was. He doesn’t overexplain. Instead, he reaches out, his large, scarred hand gently cupping the side of my face, his thumb tracing my cheekbone.

“Anka is a soldier, Sofia. Nothing more,” he says softly, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that burns right through my doubts. “She belongs to the business. You’re my wife. No one else sits at my table, and no one else wakes up in my bed.”

His response is subtle, but it’s deeply effective. The knots in my stomach slowly untie, his touch easing the sharp discomfort that has been plaguing me since I walked into the room. It reinforces the strange, powerful connection that grew between us last night, proving that what happened in the dark wasn’t just a dream or a temporary lapse in judgment.

He leans in, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to my forehead before resting his hand over mine in my lap.

As I sit there beside him, looking at our joined hands, I’m still processing the wild rush of my own emotions. The anger andhostility I used to protect myself are completely gone, replaced by something deep, terrifying, and real. My feelings for my husband have deepened in ways I can no longer ignore, and now, I’m too far in to turn back.

Chapter 14 – Lukyan